Where is College & Career Guidance Heading Next?

With the growing need to fulfill and report on state mandates and a new focus on digitizing and personalizing student learning plans, the need for comprehensive student guidance systems is greater than ever. In addition, with widespread efforts to raise standards and achievement for all students, counseling departments will need to work strategically across the district to tie their efforts to students’ academic and post-secondary success.

A new white paper from Digital Learning Now, a national initiative of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, will help educators re-think their approach to guidance services. From Core & More: Guiding and Personalizing College & Career Readiness: “the best student guidance systems are blended (leveraging technology and in-person instruction and services), distributed (leveraging staff in addition to school counselors), and scheduled (utilizing an advisory period) to ensure effective implementation and attainment of outcomes. They must connect academic preparation, thought patterns, interests and learning to students’ college and career aspirations.” The report goes on to explain why now is the time to investigate the role of technology in creating a next-generation system of student guidance, in addition to the importance of helping students develop additional non-cognitive skills that are critical for post-secondary success.

Digital Learning Now explains, “With rapidly expanding online choices, better guidance systems will be critical to ensuring that self-blends and customized pathways add up to better preparation—a key to equity and excellence, and a necessity if we are to graduate a new generation of students equipped to thrive in college and career.”

Click here to read the full report and check out the infographic below that asks the question, “What if every secondary student had access to tools and support that helped them to successfully navigate the transition from high school to college and career?”